Category Archives: technology

We’re starting a new program series later this month. Round table discussions about using creativity and performance skills in other businesses and daily life. I’ll be inviting friends of mine that work in a variety of industries to participate and we’ll be taking questions from you, the audience, as well. Afterward the video will be available on my YouTube channel so you can watch it whenever you want. Not subscribed to my channel yet? Click below:

The entertainment industry is changing faster now than it ever has before. The last decade has seen an exponential change in how audiences consume content, where content is created, how content can be monetized, and what that means for the people who create all of this content. I see this from the perspective of the “working class” trenches: no development fund, need to maintain employment, still keeping up a hustle. For people like me (and there are a LOT of us) we have seen this change in a very real way for a long time and, as much as I hate to admit it, haven’t been as proactive as we probably should have been to be on the front of that wave.

In a one-on-one conversation with Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) President Gary Shapiro on January 7th, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (sometimes referred to as a dingo) has implied that rules governing broadband communications will be based on Title II of the Communications Act – which is what most Net Neutrality activists and I have been hoping for.

“…it became obvious that commercially reasonable could be interpreted as what is reasonable for the ISPs, not what is reasonable for consumers or innovators,” Wheeler said. “And that’s the wrong question and the wrong answer because the issue here is how do we make sure that consumers and innovators have open access to networks. That led us to a more robust investigation of the well established concept of just and reasonable, which is a Title II concept. And as I said, Title II has always been something that was on the table. So last summer we began investigating various approaches using title II as a way to get to just and reasonable because it has the best protections.”

”What’s interesting also is that other ISPs, smaller ISPs, like the rural carriers, competitive ISPs, have all come in and said, ‘we like Title II, we hope you’ll do Title II,'” Wheeler added.

“It just so happens that 20 years ago I was the guy that negotiated on behalf of the wireless industry to establish Section 332,” Wheeler said. “Section 332 says that wireless should be regulated under Title II as a common carrier, except that the FCC is instructed to forbear from onerous provisions and inappropriate provisions of Title II, except for section 201 and 202, which is just and reasonable, and Section 208, which is consumer protection,” he added.

Shapiro summed up, saying, “what I heard you say is, without totally confirming it, is you’re going down the Title II path, [and] that the wireless model is a good model, and the wireless model said forbear by law except for a couple of sections.” Wheeler did not dispute that assessment.

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In 2009 I got an Asus Eee PC Netbook computer for Christmas. It was exactly what I wanted. I was still economically recovering from a divorce, my desktop computer was old and faltering and I was doing a lot more traveling so I needed something that could do the work of a laptop but not be as big as a laptop.

This was also before the iPhone was as powerful as it is now and tablets were not yet a thing. I had the top of the line Blackberry at the time and, while I could do a lot of things on the internet, it was slow and the mobile net was still in its infancy.

The Netbook was the solution.

Image from grveiw’s eBay auction

Lots of companies were releasing them, but I did a lot of research and, at the time, the perfect Netbook for my needs was the Asus Eee PC 1005 HAB:

– Intel Atom N270/1.6 GHz

– 1 GB RAM

– 250 GB hard drive

– Windows 7 Starter OS

– Intel GMA Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0 graphics processor

Not the most powerful machine in the world, but for what I needed it was, and stayed, perfect.

Rene got it for me and, according to my father-in-law, you’d have thought I was given the keys to Fort Knox. I confess I was very excited. I popped it out and started playing with it right away. I logged in, did all the set-up you do with a PC, logged onto the net, and just generally “computed.”

Since I was now mobile I took it with me everywhere that we would be spending and significant amount of time. If there was WiFi I was on it. I was Facebooking, tweeting, and starting to blog all from where ever I had internet access (for a while that was anywhere that had cell service because my phone was also an internet tether – but that’s another story). My Netbook became my primary computer and it was an essential piece of equipment on shoots and at story meetings.

Unfortunately, technology moves fast and in those last years of the 2000’s the internet was getting far more complicated as it became increasingly functional and the existence of “the cloud” became more than just a buzz term. As sites required more memory I noticed that my Netbook was running slower. I’d shut down unnecessary programs and windows but soon even that wasn’t enough. The lag wasn’t terrible, I got used to it, but then when I finally did replace my desktop and saw actual internet speeds again it was pretty clear that the Netbook was falling short.

It didn’t matter, I still loved my Netbook and its lack of speed just kept me focused on the tasks I needed to complete and kept me from too many high resource using internet distractions. But then, in early 2012, tragedy struck! I turned on the Netbook to write something and…

THE SCREEN WAS WHITE!

Not blank; white. Signal was getting to the screen, but nothing would display. I didn’t know what to do. I kind of panicked and ran out to Rene yelling that my Netbook wasn’t working. I went to her brother for help (he’s a computer and technology guy). He said that we could replace the screen but they might be hard to find or expensive since the computer was over four years old.

That was not what I wanted to hear.

I turned to social media for help. Help was offered, but again there was talk about replacement parts and possibly loose cables. This isn’t what I wanted to hear! I wanted to know how to make it magically work again without having to take anything apart or spending any money!

So I turned to the internet. More of the same advice, but it turned out that the actual procedure to remove the screen isn’t all that complicated. It’s something even I could do! But before I did it I wanted to backup everything.

That took longer than expected. I needed a separate screen to connect to the Netbook so I could see what I was doing and I needed some spare time to actually back everything up. That free time showed up today almost two years later. So I took the spare screen, grabbed the backup drive and turned on the Netbook for the first time in almost a year.

Imagine my surprise when THE SCREEN WORKED!!!

I know! I couldn’t believe it either!

After a quick bit of investigation and experimentation I discovered that it is, indeed, a loose wire. As long as I don’t tip the screen back too far this thing works! It also means that all I have to do to have my dear Netbook back in proper working order is get the cable plugged back in completely!

But something else has happened in the time that the Netbook has been idle – the internet and the cloud became a lot more resource heavy and a lot more integral to my daily business. I was working with the Netbook prepping all the files and needed to go online and Chrome was essentially useless – it just uses too much RAM. I had far more success with Firefox, but even then things were a lot slower than they are on my iPad and iPhone and a lot slower than my desktop. My wonderful Netbook is now best at being a high tech typewriter. That’s still a good use for it. I have gotten very used to the keyboard size, in fact normal sized keyboard snow feel a it too big, but it’s still a sad day for me.

To respond to the techies who are now making snarky remarks at the screen, yes I could upgrade the RAM, but it won’t accept much. And the processor speed is not up-gradable.

Tonight I am doing the backup. Then, when I find my computer screw driver set, I’ll fix the screen. Even though I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it I’m very happy to know that my Netbook isn’t dead, but the prospect of retiring it is almost worse.

Here’s to you, Netbook, you have been a loyal friend and work horse. Even though you are on the injured list I look forward using you again soon.

See you next time!If you have interest in Netbooks or newer tablet computers check out these links to Amazon or use the Amazon search bar in the right margin of this blog!

Maybe this just clicks for me because a few years ago I was working on a project that never quite got off the ground. It was a series of serialized plays and to cut costs we were going to use rear projection to create many of the sets and backgrounds. It would have been possible six years ago, but now it’s truly viable to do so much more on a much bigger scale. Neat tools that look like neat toys!

See you next time!

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My dad got an iPad today. My first reaction was that this made my dad more “cutting edge” than I am until we realized that his computer is too old for iTunes to work on so they needed my help to activate it and use it.

He has already started buying apps and he cannot wait to go out and get a bitchin’ cover/case for it.

He had the excited look on his face that is usually reserved for 6 year-olds on Christmas morning. That was a pretty neat thing to see. Growing up I have seen lots of people my age and younger really excited about gifts that really touch them. Things like that stick with you. I remember when I had ear surgery when I was a kid and I was stuck in-doors for about six weeks (I think); my mom bought me a metric ass-ton of G.I. Joe figures so I would have cool toys to play with as I healed. I’ve never forgotten that first moment when I looked in the grocery bag and saw blister card upon blister card upon blister card of Joes all ready to battle Cobra. But my parents always seemed to get their satisfaction out of seeing my sister and I happy, this was the first time that I saw him get something that 1) he had no idea he was getting and 2) it was something he REALLY wanted. It made me excited for him!

Dad’s going to get a lot of use out of it pretty fast, he has business trips coming up over the rest of the year. We’re figuring out how to get books and movies from iTunes and other online retailers and, really, he just likes tapping on it. I was really impressed with the interface, I can see why these things are so popular.

Naturally the iPad is today’s picture:

Sorry it’s blurry, I wanted to get the screen and when it had the flash on it didn’t come out.

There is a special level of hell where the damned are forced to read contracts and deal memos over and over again looking for how they are getting screwed. I have a condo in this level of hell and willingly travel there as often as I can, there is no way to do what I want to do without having to go through this tedious and all too often disappointing ordeal. I was saved from the more agonizing parts by just being sent the deal points… and then spent the rest of the morning discussing them with my partners. After a lot of discussion and a scheduled conference call it looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I wish that all the deal we’re working right now could have this kind of momentum!

Afterward I had to run some footage for editing over to the editor. The thumb with the data is today’s pic:

It’s nice to be shooting again. I’m gonna’ keep this going as long as possible. On a side note I do think it’s pretty amazing that technology has advanced so far that all of the footage I need can be put on a drive that is smaller than my thumb. Technology is cool.